Ben O'Connor's first race in Dimension Data colours didn't go to plan for the 21-year-old as he recorded a DNF in the time trial at the Australian national championships. Explaining to Cyclingnews that he was suffering from "swooning sensations" and didn't want to compromise his or his teammates' chances for Sunday's road race, he pulled the pin on the 40.9km event.
"I did want to do at least a good result but it did not come together well. I guess that is cycling. It was a bit obscure and I feel completely fine now, so I don’t really know if I can put my finger on the cause, but I think the road race is more important for the team and for myself. It is a race that suits all of us in the team," O'Connor told Cyclingnews ahead of the 183.6km road race.
Joining O'Connor on the start line for Dimension Data are last year's fourth-place finisher, Nathan Haas, and Lachlan Morton. The triumvirate shape up as a dangerous combination and will attract plenty of attention from the other riders in the peloton, and O'Connor believes the green-and-gold victory is within reach for Dimension Data.
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"With Nathan and Lachy it opens it up to all sorts of possibilities. Nathan is quite fast and Lachy can climb extremely well and I am not too bad on a climb either, so it will be good to have the options there and to have teammates there to rely on and work with. And being the first race of the year, it is great to start those relationships with them," added O'Connor of his Australian teammates.
With Orica-Scott fielding its smallest team of just six-riders, though packed with quality, the opportunity for an outsider or individual rider to continue the recent trend of 'upset' victories is on the cards. Assessing Dimension Data's rivals for the road race, O'Connor picked out a few names.
"There are dangerous guys - you could see from the crit that Jay McCarthy is in good shape," he said. "Travis Meyer in his last race, he has been training very well and I’ve ridden with him back at home and he is definitely keen to finish off well.
Early-season objectives
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